Here goes nothing. That's basically the attitude of nine teenagers- ok, eight teens and a 12 year old centaur- as they embark on one messed up quest being dictated by two even MORE messed up twin authors. Socks are lost, and hilarity ensues.

This
is our first fic. Be it praise or flame, please review. But please
note: this fic is not fireproof, and might burn out if there are too
many flames.

-Ryoa

Man,
she's too formal with that thing. Hey, it's Plex. Well, all that
I can say is that this story originated from a conversation where I
was sitting under my dad's computer desk, and Ryoa asked "If we
were Xanth characters, what would our talents be?" We got to
thinking and here we are.

If
you know us personally, then you would be able to tell who wrote
what, but since you probably don't, I'll give you a basic
rundown:

Ryoa:
fluff and romance, mostly, some humor.

Plex:
humor, kinky/sexual stuff (she's the fluffy romance, I'm the
PG-13 and up romance). … I made up the title, too.

Both:
original (as far as we can tell) puns, and any other bits that may be
in there.

As
for flames, I personally don't care. We're having a burning party
to burn all of our school papers in about 2 weeks, so flame on for
all I care. Make it nice and toasty for our reminders of the hell
hole that is our school.

And
now…on to the fic! gallops away

Disclaimer:
we do not own Xanth. Only a few puns that do not appear in this
chapter, Plex, Ryoa, and the centaurs belong to us. More to come.

Has
anyone seen my socks?

Prologue

The
whole of Xanth was sleeping peacefully in the night. Looking closer,
you could see castle Roogna and its surrounding area, along with a
hut right along its eastern side. Suddenly, a set of joined ellipsis
flew out into the dark night, unnoticed in their flight except by a
certain powerful demon. He stopped the ellipsis and examined it.

"Hmmm…more
from the royal line. Very well then." And he sent it on his way.
But something had happened. The order was now laced with magic more
powerful then the one that moved it.

As
the rosy dawn gilded the skies, a great white stork carrying a bundle
came into view. If one looked closely, you could see a tiny head
poking out of the bag, its eyes aimed downwards as they became as
large as saucers.

A
decidedly feminine scream filled the air and a large, glittering
firedrake appeared and got too close to the stork. A scalding stream
of fire straight at the large bird, thoroughly roasting it. The bag
fell downwards toward the trees at an alarmingly fast pace in a drop
that no human could survive, let alone a baby

But
as it hit the ground, it simply bounced. The baby started wailing.

Nearby,
a centaur family was taking a walk through the woods. The dam, named
Jane, dashed off towards the sound without bothering to tell her
mate, Karl, where she was going. Karl and their foal, Klepto, dashed
off in pursuit of the female. They came upon her in a clearing,
cuddling a small human girl. Karl went over to his wife, but Klepto,
ever curious, went over to the bag and reached in.

"I
think it needs a diaper change," she said, grabbing a second baby
by one leg as she held her nose against the smell. Taking the baby
from her daughter and handing the first one to her husband, the
family ran off into the forest.

Dawn
walked through the door of the centaurs' hut, greeted Jane, her new
friend, and sat down at the table. When they had just started to
talk, two young human children came running though the room. They
were boy and girl, but were obviously twins. The girl, who was riding
a small lap dragon, was chasing the boy, who was running in fear for
his life. Suddenly, they stopped, turned and stared at Dawn.

The
boy, complete with blue spiked hair and a childish grin on his face,
ran up to the table, climbed on a chair to get up to the table, which
he then climbed onto. He positioned himself in front of Dawn, and
grinned.

"Hi!"
he said, waving and jumping just a little.

Then
he lost his balance, and fell into the chair next to Dawn. Dawn was
shocked and worried for the toddler and reached out belatedly to try
to catch him. She could only imagine how much pain he would be in. To
her surprise, the boy was not crying, but bouncing on the now soft
chair as if it were a piece of elastic. He also happened to be
bouncing on his head. He was grinning and giggling as he bounced, and
he gave her a few small waves.

The
girl, exhibiting supreme understanding of grown-up ways for a
three-year-old, rolled her eyes and rode up to Dawn.

"Hi."
She said, though slightly less energetic than her brother. She also
had blue-tipped hair.

The
boy continued to laugh as he jumped upright on the now regular chair.
The girl rode up to the boy, shook her head, and knocked him off the
chair backwards.

Dawn
was appalled. How could an innocent toddler be so malicious? She got
up immediately to pick up the boy, and when she got to him, she found
him sitting there with a dazed expression on his chubby face. She
picked him up and turned to look at the girl.

"How
could you do that? He could have been seriously hurt!" she
lectured.

"No
he can't," the girl argued.

"And
why not?" Dawn was curious as to why the girl thought this.

"He
just can't. That's him." The girl obviously thought this was a
sufficient answer, but Dawn still did not comprehend. She turned to
look at Jane.

"What
Ryoa means is that Plex can't be physically harmed. That's his
talent." She explained further.

Jane
looked at her softly. "That is because Bink is Plex and Ryoa's
great-great grandfather. Plex and Ryoa are your children, Dawn."
Jane informed her gently.

"Mommy,"
Plex and Ryoa called out. Plex flung his chubby arms around her neck,
and Ryoa encircled her legs.

"My…children…"
Dawn was stunned by this information. She knew that it was true,
because centaurs did not lie, but it was still hard to believe. She
had always thought that she and her husband Jeff should have children
by now, but had never fussed over the ordeal.

"Mommy,"
the twins said again.

Dawn
sat down roughly in her chair, and Ryoa climbed into her lap as well
as Plex.

As
Dawn sat absorbing the new information, Plex and Ryoa fell asleep.
She felt more than heard their breathing slow, and looked down. The
toddlers were sleeping peacefully in her lap, contented smiles on
their twin faces.

Dawn
felt a sense of motherly pride swell as she looked at them, and knew
that even though she was just entering their lives now, she would
love them just the same as if she had been in their lives all along.

She
looked down at the children, her children, and knew that they would
always be as they were now, at least to her. Whenever she looked at
them, she would always see two sleeping twin angels.

Her
angels.

End
of prologue

Yay!
And that's the prologue (duh)! Ended on a bit of a fluffy note,
which I, Plex, wrote by myself.

e-mail
either of us at (with no spaces)

cantharmnezumi
(at) yahoo . com (for Plex)

or

Four1490
(at) sbcglobal . net (for Ryoa)

and
remember, review!

-Plex
& Ryoa

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.